Year of the Witch
by LoveToday15
Summary: Isabella lives in a town of witches, as the only witch who can help them complete their goal; to end all vampires. None of them anticipated Klaus being one step ahead. None of them anticipated Isabella being the most prized secret weapon he has. And none of them anticipated a witch willing to help and defend a vampire. Full Sum inside
1. Chapter 1

Year of the Witch:

I live in a city ruled by witches.

No, that doesn't mean the sky has green skinned women flying on broomsticks. And it doesn't mean that magical wands are considered to be the most treasured item in every household. And it doesn't mean that all the frogs in the lakes were once human.

These witches are more dangerous than that. These witches are powerful, and come from long wealthy bloodlines that go back centuries. They hold all the power here, and any threat to them is eliminated before the word _rebel _can be uttered.

The witches also happen to have a purpose—an aim to end all vampires in the world, including the Originals. They want to use the most powerful witches to do it, but they don't know that the one witch that can make it possible is _me_.

And they also don't know that the Original vampire, Klaus, practically controls my every move. They don't know that I've been sent to destroy the system from the inside. And they don't know that my family thinks I'm dead.

In fact, they only think that I'm human. Which is why I'm the most prized secret weapon in Klaus's arsenal.

* * *

"Isabella!"

Ana tore down the path, running toward me with a black pack strung over her shoulder. Inwardly, I gave an impatient sigh. I was on a tight schedule.

Still, I stopped in the middle of the street, moved out of the way of the civilians, and smiled at her, adjusting my stance. Subtly, I put my hand in my coat pocket, feeling the two pages of the Grimoire I'd snatched from Nalia's home.

"Hey," I smiled but she gave me a frantic look, breathing heavily from running.

"Skandar wants to see you," she smiled brilliantly, like the sun coming out on a cloudy day, and added, "tonight."

I swallowed my fluttering butterflies.

"I don't know…"

"Isa!" Her face grew shocked. "You can't be serious."

"I'm dead serious." A flicker of grief went across her face and I felt like an idiot. A man walking past turned to scowl at me, then continued on. "Sorry." I apologized. "It's…"

"It's fine," she smiled again. A week ago, six humans were killed for switching the herbs in one of the medication rooms, and one of them was Ana's somewhat boyfriend. But she wasn't one to get caught in the dark side of life—immediately, she'd taken to trying to get me out of my bubble and meet someone else. Like I could make up for her lost happiness.

"Thank you, Ana," I said genuinely. "But I don't think I'm ready right now. I have an exam coming up in Theory and Shana wants me to tutor her daughter."

The only reason I'd agreed to tutor Shana's snivelling daughter was for the food she promised me; with a warlock as a son, Shana had enough food and clothes delivered to her from the Council, as a reward, and she said I could dine with them three nights a week.

A certain Original vampire kept me fed well enough, but there were sometimes weeks that went by until I saw him, and those weeks seemed like months without enough food.

Ana's face fell.

"I told him you'd go…"

"Ana," I sighed again. "I'll be back by curfew. I'll see then. Tell him I got caught up at Tarina's while studying."

"You're leaving?" Ana turned away like she was waiting for someone to call us out. "I'll see you later, then."

I turned and walked without giving a farewell. I was late, to a meeting with Klaus. And he didn't like to be kept waiting.

* * *

"Well?"

I shook snow off my boots and slipped off my hat. It was still too cold to take my coat off, so I walked into Klaus's cottage through the hall to where he was waiting in his masculine lounge. The walls were painted dark brown and the sofas were huge and looked comfortable enough to sleep in. Some nights I did, when it was too cold to go back out, but I'd have to have at least three blankets over me. Klaus's home always seemed to be cold.

He was lounging on one of the sofas with his boots up on the coffee table, pages of Grimoires everywhere, some tacked to the walls even. He was rubbing his face, looking exhausted, and he half rose when he saw me before sitting back down again.

"I've turned the heat up," he said absently, turning back to the page. "Take off your coat. You're getting water everywhere."

I did as he said, hanging my thick wool coat on one of the chairs at the dining table. I slipped the pages from my pocket and held them out to him.

His brows shot up and he grinned as he took them. My heart stuttered. I turned away, moving to the fridge. I was starving, and I'd managed to miss breakfast while sneaking around Nalia's home.

"There's steak in the oven with roasted potatoes."

A satisfied hum escaped me as I snatched it from the huge oven and ate straight from the pan. It was the first meat I'd seen in weeks.

After sitting in comfortable silence while Klaus worked around the room, stacking pages on top of each other and tacking more papers to the walls, he spoke.

"How has it been there? Are there still patrols going on?" He crossed the room to stand across from me at the kitchen bench, seating himself on one of the stools. His green eyes focused on mine, like he could find the answer in my eyes.

"They've pulled the curfew up to sunset. I have to be back by five at least." I chewed on the steak absently.

Klaus smirked. "If only they knew that the perpetuator gets around better in the day."

I ignored his pointed look and went on to explain, "The patrols are still going on, but they've taken to searching the witches more than the humans. They know humans have no use for Grimoire pages anyhow, and the low ranking witches have been known to smuggle and switch up their spells."

"As always." Klaus rolled his eyes and sat back. I was struck by the fact that we were all tiny moments in his very, very long life. One day, he'd look back on these times and laugh at the idea of a town of witches trying to end all vampires.

One day, I hoped I'd stand beside him and share the sentiment. If he agreed to turn me into a vampire.

"They'll realize it's not the spells, but—"

"It's the power and blood of the witch, I know, I know," I finished off. He'd drilled it into my head so often I found myself repeating it when I saw the low ranking witches struggle to extend their power.

"They've stopped targeting the humans," Klaus mused. "Good. Has there been any other attention on you?"

I paused, wondering if I should tell him about Skandar.

Skandar was known as a rebellious boy among the town, who just loved to flaunt his warlock power and fool around with human and witch girls. He was harmless, but his family line, Ignis, were close to mine. If my family discovered I was actually alive… that I survived the spell my mother had used when she found out I didn't have power…

"Nope." I lied, and stuffed half a potato in my mouth. I kept a straight face while chewing, but his eyes narrowed.

"Tell me the truth."

"Honestly, nothing at all. My home was searched yesterday, and they didn't find anything."

Klaus was a man of his word—he knew just how important each silence and hesitations were in speech, and he wouldn't let go until he found what he was looking for. He continued to stare at me. I turned away from him to the fridge and swallowed down a few gulps of apple juice from the carton. When I looked back at him, his expression had gone flat.

"Tell me, Isabella," he commanded.

"Klaus—"

"I don't know who you're defending, but I will find out, from you or by my own ways. We've come too far to be stopped by a little bump in the road because you didn't trust me enough."

"Okay—okay," I took a deep breath, thinking fast. "After I left Nalia's home, she complained about her lounge having no shadows in sight." I bit my lip and waited for his outburst.

When I used my power in certain places, especially ones with high witch power, the darkness was sucked out of the room. Klaus's theory was that my power was like a vacuum; sucking on every other piece of energy before exhausting my own.

Klaus stood and paced the small lounge, slowly, closing his eyes and taking deeper breaths.

"What happened to the charm you made that prevented this from happening?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"I didn't get to restore it's power…" my hand went to the necklace at my throat, touching at the charm. "I've fixed it, and now they're definitely looking for a witch—"

Abruptly, the chair was in the air, sailing towards me at dangerous speed. I leaped out of the way, rolling to stand on the other side of the kitchen. There was nothing but splinters of wood on the floor.

Another flew at me. A yelp escaped me as I leaped out the way, and all I saw was Klaus's angry expression as he hurled another chair at me. Was he going to tear apart his dining table next?

"Where's your power gone now?" He demanded. "You let it slip, but you don't use it when you need it!"

Darkness erupted from me and spread over every inch of his home, clouding the windows, smothering the light. A sigh escaped me at the ease of the ability, like stretching a muscle I hadn't in a long time. Silence stretched on, the only sound was our breathing.

"Better," Klaus whispered. I held my breath. "Now, show me what you can do—"

Before he finished, I flung my arms out and fire caught to the splintered wood in a blaze. Light and heat filled the room, and with a wave of my arm, the fire spread into a circle, shielding me from anything outside.

Relief was clear on Klaus's face. But he was still waiting for something else. Again, I filled the darkness into my circle. No one could see inside, but I still couldn't see out.

"Turn it off," Klaus's voice was clear. Immediately, the room darkened, back to it's usual light. The room was in a mess; the fire had devoured his chairs, and there were piles of ash where some things had immediately burned down. Black scorch marks covered the area around me.

Across from me, Klaus moved about, watching to make sure his shadow moved in sync with his motions. Slowly, a satisfied, lazy smile spread across his features.

"Much better. Have you been practising?" His eyes were glinting, in exhilaration, like he'd experienced the same effect of practising magic.

"Of course. I practise with all the other witches in the town, then I run away while they chase me down with the raging fires and weapons."

You couldn't have missed the sarcasm in my words, but Klaus kept smiling, deciding to ignore the jibe. Then his eyes went to the two spell pages that had slipped to the floor, half burned and curling ash crumbling away. His smile fell away.

"Ah," he groaned lightly, not too concerned but annoyed.

"Sorry," I shrugged, only half apologetic.

He gave me a little glare, "Bring me three pages tomorrow and I'll forgive you."

"Sure," I shrugged and walked around to the kitchen to finish my food. "Next time I mess up, please don't throw chairs at me."

"There's not going to be a next time."

I heard the warning in his voice, and knew that next time; chairs would be much better than whatever he planned.

**Please review if i should continue :) **


	2. Chapter 2

"I planned on getting a new place anyway," Klaus helped me shrug into my coat at the door. "This cottage was too plain for my tastes."

"I know," I said, rolling my eyes before I turned back to him, plastering a smile on my face. "Tell me the address before you change it though."

"We'll see," he shrugged and opened the door, letting a blast of freezing air shock me as I walked out.

I walked forward without looking back. A moment later the door shut behind me. Klaus lived deep in the forest; the outside was deep brown wood but relatively new. Some witches could sense vampires miles away, and although the house had certain evasive spells on it, courtesy of me, you never really knew who could take you by surprise.

It was later afternoon, the sun was going to set in an hour, and I had to be back before that happened. I lived with another human girl, Aura, only 12 and I had to take her to her night school at 6.

The walk back to the town was a slow one, and I was slightly exhausted after my burst of power. When I came to the gates of the town, I felt that feeling of isolation creep back in. When I was at Klaus's, I forgot that my home was walled behind gates and it was against the Order for me to leave.

Still, I had to do what I had to do. The first guard I was able to past by using my power; all he probably saw was a shadow of an animal speeding past. The second guard was the checkpoint inside, to reach the human part of the city, and him it took me a little more convincing because stupidly, I had walked without realizing I was already in his line of vision.

"That smiling ain't gonna work on me, sweetheart," he was stony faced and glary at me. I sweetened my smile, made my eyes go a little moony and lazy like. A flicker of something passed across his face and he glanced uncertainly at the guard at the next post.

"You already checked me. I'm going to be late for curfew; do you want me to tell the patrollers that I was held up by the checkpoint guard being picky?"

"Fine," the guard snapped, annoyed. "Don't let it happen again, Isabella,"

"Yes, sir," I saluted him and hurried past, and he went back to his smokes.

Aura was waiting at the door of our home when I came in. The houses issued to the humans of this part of town were tiny; tinier than Klaus's cottage, and they just had two rooms. The first was a lounge slash bedroom, and tiny kitchens used to heat up and store snacks and water. There was a large bathroom every five houses that had to be shared among around fifteen people, and study rooms were shared among around fifty people, sometimes doubling as a school for the younger kids.

Most of the kids in town were abandoned by their families; when a kid turns eight and their power hasn't turned up, they can be given to the Order for them to raise the kids as humans. All ties had to be severed from the family at that point.

Rarely, there were a few completely human families in the human part of town, and even more rarely, one of those human families had a witch in the family. If that happened, the family was allowed to move into the upper class of the town, and they were given food, education and medication as long as the Order was allowed to have their child and raise them as a witch.

Not that these human families could stop them. On occasion, they disappeared if they refused to part with their witch child. Not many people liked to ask questions about that.

"I'm late!" Aura was bouncing when I pushed through, her black bag jostling against her shoulder. "What took so long?"

"I was busy, come on." She rushed out after me, and I shut the door and pressed my hand into the handle.

"I waited so long I was gonna ask Ana to take me,"

Good. It would have been easier for me. The class had already started when I pushed Aura in. She took her seat on a rickety chair and focused hard on the teacher.

Technically, school wasn't compulsory for the children. But Rowena, one of the elder humans, decided that education was essential, and had taken it upon herself to teach Maths and English, at least. The witches had allowed only a few types of sciences; when I asked Klaus, he'd told me it was because they didn't want us to learn the chemical ways of science, how apparently just a few ingredients could blow up an entire building. He'd laughed when I asked him to teach me how.

Most of the kids had taken their education seriously; there wasn't much else to do. Eventually, when they turned around 14 or 15, they'd begged off, and worked either as patrollers, checkpoint guards, or other odd human jobs around our town.

The 'promotion' was an offer to work in the witch part of the city; serving them. It seemed to me the only kind of jobs for humans were as servants.

If a human proved to be capable enough, they were allowed to live with the witches; as vampire hunters, set around the world to get rid of a few trouble making vampires.

That part had fascinated me when I was young; being able to leave this place to travel the world? Meeting Klaus had only fuelled that fiery passion to leave; he'd told me about places were witches lived in harmony with humans, about places where they were hated even.

He told me about cultures and languages around the world; Russia, Italy, Spain, Egypt, China… It was like a dream. Oceans, huge places around the world absolutely covered in salt water. Museums, where history was put up on display to gawk at.

On occasion, Klaus had showed me paintings of places he'd been to. But not often. He said it was so that I'd stay focused; if I wanted out, I'd have to work for it.

And so, work I did. Every day.

* * *

"People of the Order!"

Everyone seated in the stadium was shifty; the day was cold and rainy, and no one had the patience for another speech today.

There was a lady, a witch, standing in the middle of the stadium with a microphone in her hands. At times like this, I realized just how many humans we really had in town; thousands. The younger ones were seated around the bottom of the stadium. The rest scattered; next to me was Ana, and she was stuffing popcorn in her mouth before anyone could see that she'd snuck snacks in before lunch. I thought of the steak and potatoes at Klaus's two days ago mournfully. Today it would be back to sandwiches and two minute noodles.

"It has come to our awareness that clothes are becoming sparser amongst your belongings; today there will be people to take your measurements and issue you all new coats suitable for the winter."

The whole audience tittered gratefully. I rolled my eyes. The witch seemed to preen; like she was responsible for giving us exactly what was our right to have anyhow.

"The _Seculum _will be arriving at each function room to test all children aged 10 to 18. Arrive on time or risk the consequences."

Everyone forgot about the coats immediately.

"It has also come to our attention that amongst you, some are training to become one of the _venántium,"_

Vampire hunters. The group was called _venántium_, some Latin word. The Latin word fell gracefully from her lips, and silence rang across the arena. I leaned forward.

"Please save your efforts. It is not in your power to sway the decisions of the _Seculum._ Another test will be taken tomorrow night for all abled people. Arrive on time if you wish for the chance."

Even the guards shared looks. I noticed they didn't mention the location of the tests; a test within a test? To locate the venue?

It would be just like the witches to do that.

She finished the speech with a mumbled Latin prayer that no one understood, and she didn't explain anyway. She hurried off the stage into her awaiting car, like she couldn't stand the sight of so many humans in one place. A giggle escaped me. As if humans were the ones to be afraid of.

Too bad today was Sunday; the one day the humans and witches alike were allowed to wander passed the checkpoints and barred sections of the city.

I was walking past an alley with Ana when Skandar dragged me into it, muffling my yelp with a gloved hand over my mouth. Ana continued walking, but gave me a coy wink as she wandered past.

"You want to become a hunter?" He asked. I turned to face him. He was taller than me, but he still had that boyish look. Dark hair, dark eyes, freckles on a healthy complexion.

"Who said?" I crossed my arms, keeping my voice light. He raised his brow.

"I saw you at the stadium. You were enthralled," he whispered the last words, leaning closer. I lightly pushed him away, but smiled so he thought I was teasing. Inside, I was getting jumpy; I had to get to the centre of the town. That's where all the deals were going today; that's where the underworld of this place was.

"Is it a bad thing to want to serve the witches?" I whispered back lazily. A flare of desire went over his eyes and he made to pull me closer—I danced away and out of the alley, smiling all the while. He wasn't used to having to chase girls.

Having him around was good; one day I might need some extra power.

Realistically, I knew I wouldn't really be able to become one of the _venántium. _I had too much work to do, and I was supposed to stay unnoticed.

Sundays were my favourite. The days witches and warlocks and humans and even the occasional werewolf all walked through the city without guards and escorts and all that bustle. There was some tension, but the humans were so glad to go to the markets, especially the young ones, that eventually the witches relaxed at the sight of friendly and smiling faces.

I rarely went to the markets. Not only did I not have the money or valuables to trade, but I didn't usually find anything of worth.

There was another place to go aside from the markets. The bomb shelter.

The bomb shelter was deeper in the middle of the city, and the only way to get to it was to have something of value to trade in. Of course, it didn't stop there. The _venántium _needed something to do with their strength—and that was brawling. The commentators watched and betted on the brawlers, and occasionally, if a spectator got too loud or was cheating in anyway, they were forced into the fight.

The bomb shelter was a pile of shit, and more people died inside than what was mentioned. The _venántium _had their fighting techniques all wrong. But they were savage, and people somehow enjoyed watching savagery.

That's where I was going today. I usually snuck in through shadows; it was so dark under there it was too easy. The only thing I did in there was brawl. Painful, but easy, especially when I managed to get a cut of the money made.

Or sometimes, the possessions of others.

Some days, like today, I realized as I hurried down the steps to the shelter, the witches swarmed the brawls, trying to trade old things like amulets and grimoire pages and little spelled trinkets. These were my favourite days. These were the days I got the most prizes.

I was jostled and bumped and shoved when I made it to the crowd. There was a large ring, and two brutes were snarling and fists were flying. In the corner, behind a large cage, was a man who had boxes and locked metal boxes in front of him and papers and pens to keep record of who gets what and who won against who.

Klaus made sure I was trained in many different martial arts. Knife fighting, taekwondo, jujitsu, self-defence, archery.

These types of skills had to be masked; I had to pull my punches often to make the fight longer, and no weapons were allowed in the brawls. People were still suspicious when they saw me fight, but I always explained that I wanted to become a vampire hunter. They'd smile and look at me like I was crazy.

I was fine with that.

"Bee!" The guard, Kieran, shoved me from behind then bounded into view. His fair features were lit in excitement, and he grinned widely at me. "We have three _venántium _who have been fighting each other in a loop! No one's beating them!"

"That's great," I smiled at him in fake enthusiasm. "I wouldn't mind trying."

Without warning, he turned and shoved me into the crowd. The crowd moved away, stunned, and I was eventually jostled into the middle of a fight between two brutes, fists and insults flying.

They began to chant a name, one of the names of those fighting. I stood off to the side, waiting for one to win.

Sloppily, it was a knockout punch that made the guy to win, and the man fell to the floor without twitching, dust flying up around him.

The crowd yelled and clapped.

There was no time for a break. Somehow, Kieran was behind me again and shoving me into the ring, before I could even take my coat off.

My appearance was met with confusion. "Who the hell is she?"

"She's too small—someone get her out of there!"

It was too late now. When you're in the rink, you're in the fight. No other options.

"You want to fight, little girl?"

The man stood snarling at me. I was tall, but not as tall. He was built like a bull, in a sweat stained undershirt and trousers that looked like they hadn't been washed in days.

"Perhaps you should wash your pants first," I suggested with my face lowered, sneering.

He snarled louder. If I hadn't seen Klaus's vampire face, all bloody eyes and fangs, I'd have thought the man in front of me could be a vampire.

His fist swung and I moved to the left; just a little, but enough to dodge him. He practically tripped over his own feet forward. I laughed, and a startled chuckle erupted from the crowd.

"Beginner's luck," they all seemed to say at the same time.

The man seemed to take his time to realize what happened. I shrugged out of my coat, wearing the tight black long sleeved top under, and chucked it at Kieran. Again, the crowd tittered. "Skinny thing,"

"Are you done thinking?" I snapped at the man's back. "Some of us can move and think at the same time!"

He turned in a growl and lunged at me. Again I moved and kicked him in the back as he moved past. He landed hard on his stomach, dust swirling and making him cough.

He struggled to rise, and when he did, I was taken aback by the raging and furious expression in his eyes.

"Bitch," he snarled. "I'll kill you."

He shook his hands out, taking a deep breath. I didn't bother waiting; I kicked him hard in the face, and he turned, blood spattering that dusty floor. He was on his knees. I punched him in the gut and his nose met my knee hard. I heard the impact over the screeching crowd, felt his nose crack. He whirled back, landing hard on his face, and stayed unmoving.

The crowd roared, stomping their feet, screaming. I was barely out of breath, but I raised my arms to the crowd. Someone dragged his body out of the way. Money exchanged hands.

"Choose! Choose! Choose!" They chanted.

I didn't have to. A grinning man, shorter but more built than the previous one, stalked into the ring, all dark hair and dark eyes. I shrugged at him.

He didn't waste time talking. He lashed out with his leg. The opening was too easy for me. I caught his leg and twisted hard. He crashed to his knees, back to me, writhing to get away. He lashed out again, and his heel caught the side of my jaw. A growl escaped me at the blurred edge of pain.

The real fight had begun.

* * *

**Please Review guys :) **


	3. Chapter 3

"That's hideous," I breathed.

I was out of breath, sweating and my hair was out of it's braid, all over my face. I put my hands on my hips, trying to mask how much I was gasping for breath as I stood in front of the cage, where a man was sorting through boxes near empty.

On the list of wins, my name had a tally of 14 next to it. Triumph flared again and I smiled briefly. I wasn't too injured, surprisingly, just a bruise on my jaw, a cut on my brow from when someone decided to punch me with their rings (I slipped those rings right off his unconscious body when I knocked him out), and I was bruised around my arms where I'd blocked hard punches to my head.

It was a good kind of pain.

"It's spelled, ma'am," the man raised his brows at me. I pursed my lips, taking the charm from his outstretched hand through the bars.

Yes, I could feel the power; but it was spelled with a curse. I laughed and handed it back. The thought of a witch sneaking in a cursed charm to get some money seemed absurdly funny when witches were already paid every week for doing nothing but existing.

"What else do you have?"

He laid out eight items in front of me.

"You've won these and this," He gestured to the money bound in a rubber band. Not much of it, just a roll of tens, but it might be enough to buy some things in time before the sun went down.

I dragged all eight things—charms, necklaces, some technical gadget I often saw Klaus using, and some jewels—into my pack and shrugged my coat on where Kieran waited for me.

"Thanks." I hurried back towards the stairs.

People eyed me as I passed, suspicious whispers following me. Some cheered; those who won more than the others. I received a few jolting claps on the back.

"Give us a lil' somethin', sweetheart!" one called to my back. A growl escaped my throat. I had been able to keep my temper under control today—but some days, it was harder. I shook off the predatory anger.

The fame would be short lived anyhow. Next week, they would forget me.

I eyed the charms in my bag as I hurried toward my home. There was only one necklace, a thick leather cord and a metal coin like charm, and when I looked closer, I realized it was engraved with an elephant, with tribal type markings on the figure.

It would have to do. If Klaus was disappointed, he could go get me a necklace of his choosing.

I showered quickly when I reached the baths, then twisted my hair into a knot and smeared make-up over my bruise and cut. I changed into a thick blue coat with gold buttons, slipped into some black leather boots, and left my black thick leggings on. I looked like a witch from a healthy bloodline.

Perfect. You could never go to the markets and buy witch ingredients as a human without raising suspicion. If anyone asked, I was just another human pet running errands.

* * *

"Savion!"

The shriek made me freeze, dread pooling in my stomach as the girl began to laugh and giggle. Subtly, I turned my head away from the vendor to see Fiora's laughing face as she gripped a stone away from her. Even from here, I saw the shimmery luminescence of the rock, and Fiora's eyes were lit up as she tried desperately to let go of the rock.

My brother laughed so hard he bent over, as Fiora slowly started to cry while she laughed.

"Stop it!" She yelled at him and held the stone away from her.

"You wanted it," he pointed at her. People milled about, looking at them for a moment but walking passed a moment later. Half of them muttered, 'those Immitius kids' as they breezed past, some shared glances and annoyed but affectionate smiles.

"You didn't tell me it was spelled!" Fiora was whining, gasping for breath and unable to stop her giggling. Savion must have spelled the stone with some kind of laughing curse. Fiora began to sob and laugh at the same time.

Vaeda Immitius suddenly emerged from the crowd, an annoyed expression on her face. No affection. Not for her kids.

I turned away from them with a gasp. It was hard not to get caught in my family's happiness—it was infectious, and everyone knew it. Even now, the street vendor in front of them swatted them away, pretending to be annoyed, but trying not to smile at the same time—until she caught sight of my biological mother and turned away, suddenly interested in the positioning of her charms on the table.

"Stop," Her command rang out. The stone dropped from Fiora's hand and cracked in two even pieces. Savion turned away, looking ashamed. Without another word, my mother streamed passed them, her auburn hair bouncing. She looked perfect; wearing a dark shirt and dark pants with heels, carrying herself like a queen. Her dark eyes seemed to scan everything deeply. She looked no more than 30. My siblings followed.

My hair used to be just like hers. Now it was dark brown, not so shining as it used to be, when it was bronze and vibrant. She had stripped the colour from my hair the same night she killed me—or tried to kill me. But she didn't know I was here still.

It was considered a disgrace when a powerful line of witches failed to produce an heir for the family representatives for the Order. I was that disgrace; I was the kid who fuelled those rumours about my mother being unfaithful to my father. I was the kid who failed to call upon her power when she was 8, therefore being useless. Being illegitimate. Unworthy of life.

Witches born into human families were taken by the Order. Humans born into witch families were allowed to be… eliminated. Killed.

And so I was.

* * *

"Hand out,"

The witch snapped impatiently and held her hand out in front of me, waiting. I shivered as her fingers came into contact with mine. She was around my age, nineteen, but there may as well have been a century between us by the way she carried herself.

He thrumming power jolted my blood, and I shivered again, closing my eyes, trying to press down my power.

For a moment, I thought it would burst out of me, setting the world on fire. But the moment passed, leaving the young witch to glare at me through narrowed eyes. The room went silent, all the spectators watching us with keen eyes.

The witch turned and murmured to herself, then presented a black obsidian rock. She pressed it into my palm.

It was painful. It felt like my blood was turning into water, my heart slowing. Pain radiated around my skull and seemed to linger behind my eyes. I barely suppressed a cry of pain, a low grown escaping me. Still she pressed my hand into the rock.

A moment later she snatched it from me, and brought her hand up to lock my jaw in a grip.

She smirked as she roughly rubbed the makeup away. I winced at the pain of the bruise but stared levelly into her eyes.

She turned away with a slight expression of disgust, like having a bruise was the equivalent of not showering, and moved to the next person in line, repeating the process.

The whole thing took three hours of standing straight as witches moved down the rows of humans in the frigid nights, testing for werewolves, vampires and witches who were hiding among the humans. I didn't know why anyone would but the witches were paranoid.

All the while, human servants moved through the town to drop off new winter coats and boots to all the homes. After this, there would be dinner, but I had to make it to Klaus's and make him that damn charm before the town went on lockdown for the night.

Of course, I'd really rather sleep off my injuries from the bomb shelter fights.

It wasn't so easy past six to get out of the town through the gates—in fact, it was impossible, with the guards patrolling and checkpoints practically abducting anyone who was acting suspiciously.

So tonight, the way out for me was the town's underground tunnel system that had once been used years ago to smuggle humans through to the witches to make for human sacrifices when they were practising some dirty expression type magic.

A few decades ago, the tunnel had been sealed off, but Klaus had somehow blown a hole through one of the concrete walls so that I could make it through undetected.

Why didn't I use it every night? Because it ran under my biological family's home, and if I could sense them under huge blocks of concrete, it made me wonder if they could sense me too.

* * *

"Klau—"

A surprised squeak escaped me as I was slammed into the door roughly. The picture frames in the hall crashed to the floor, glass shattering all over the floor. Immediately, a knife pressed against my throat.

"What the f—"

"Shut up." The man growled. I struggled to get a look at him in the darkness. The house was cold, the door still open and breezing snow in the doorway. All I could see were his gloves, leather in the moonlight, a glimpse of a black hood pulled low over his face.

Darkness swarmed from me, and he stumbled away, bringing his hands to his eyes in confusion. I kicked the knife out of his hands, hard so that it flew in the wall and stuck there.

My next moves were rapid punches to his face while he grunted and groaned, still unable to see what I was doing.

But then he was suddenly gone, and all I could hear was a whoosh of air as he ran, and I realized what he was in that same second.

A vampire. How the hell did he know I was gonna be here?

I tried flipping on the light. Nothing happened. I shuddered as I walked further into the house, and picked up the first charred wooden chair I saw. I slammed it into the wall, then held the jagged piece of wood out on front of me, shaking.

"Now you wanna hide?" I yelled out, clenching the wood harder. I cut my finger, hissing at the sharp pain, the warmth of blood.

A growl came out from the darkness.

This time, I didn't have any air to make a sound as he threw me back to the floor. His hands went around my neck, squeezing.

I choked wildly, immediately regretting my fool move. I could feel my body jerking wildly, begging for air that wasn't there.

I clawed at his face, panicking now. He batted my hand away casually. Strange noises were coming out of my throat, like that time I once saw one of the street kids have an asthma attack. My vision was blackening, my back feeling like it was about to snap at the pain of arching it. Weakly, I threw the stake up.

He howled as the wood slammed into his arm, falling back. Colours and spots whirled in my vision as I gulped in air.

"Bitch!"

My senses came back and I threw the darkness at him, until I couldn't see his face anymore and he couldn't see anything. He spun wildly, trying to see. "What the f—"

"Shut up!" I slammed the make-shift stake into his heart.

The effect was instant—he practically shrunk in on himself, and I could have sworn his body creaked as he fell to the floor, as if he'd already sunk into rigor mortis.

For a moment, I stared, adrenaline coursing through my veins and making me dizzy.

"Klaus?" I yelled out, my voice shaky.

"Slow," he answered, coming out of the shadows of his lounge holding a flashlight. "I was almost about to break it up."

Another shaky breath of relief escaped me, tears springing to my eyes as I covered my mouth, trying to cover up my gasps.

"Wha—why—" I couldn't even get the words out, I was shaking too much, and the air in my lungs kept escaping before I could use it.

"Hey—" Klaus frowned like he couldn't understand my reaction and stepped toward me. "What is it?"

"I—I couldn't—breathe! He was—" I covered my eyes, trying to get my breathing under control. I felt like a blubbery mess, about to just fall apart on the floor right there. "Why would you—"

"It was just a test, Isabella," Klaus said patiently. "I thought you were used to—" He paused and narrowed his eyes, then his fingers pushed my face to the side, shining the light on my jaw. "Where did you get this?"

For a moment, I didn't understand, but then he pressed his cold fingers to the bruise and the pain returned. I winced, pulling away.

"I just…"

"You went to the bomb shelter, didn't you?" He demanded. "I told you it was dangerous there!"

"You just sent one of your lackey's to attack me!" I yelled at him, rage overtaking my panic. "I don't think there's anything more dangerous!"

"I control the situation here. _I _know how strong he is, _I know how to stop him!" _He shouted back at me, moving closer and trying to intimidate me with his height.

"I was dying! I couldn't breathe!" I screamed and shoved him. He stumbled back in shock, then caught himself and his features drained of expression again, except for the angry fire in his eyes.

"I knew how to save you. Those bastards at those fights don't care if you're a girl, or if you're too young to make a logical decision. They will kill you!"

"You almost killed me!"

Klaus turned away from me, taking a deep breath like he was trying to gather up patience.

"It was a test, Isabella. You told me you trusted me. I would have stopped it if I honestly thought you were in danger—"

"Don't talk right now,"

I took a deep breath and paced the dark room, avoiding looking at the body. Klaus had done plenty of tests before—tests conducted by him, like last week when he chucked chairs at me. I'd always known he'd stop before it got too serious. But sending a vampire on me? Vampires kill—vampires hated witches.

"How could you trust that he wouldn't kill me?" I turned back to him. He took another deep breath.

"Isabella, he's too afraid of what I would do if he broke my rules. He wouldn't dare,"

I felt like I'd just been kicked in the stomach.

"I _trusted _you! Do you know how terrifying that was?" I turned away so he couldn't see the tears in my eyes.

"If you want to be part of this, you have to be sharp. I don't want you being sloppy and getting yourself killed and having to regret not training you well enough." He paused. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd be so affected by it,"

"It's not the first time someone's tried to kill me," I said shakily. Klaus stayed silent; he knew what I was talking about.

Seeing my mother today had shaken me up more than I thought. Fiora and Savion looked so happy—would I have been the same if she never tried to kill me? Would we all be happy siblings, powerful and confident? How did they move on after they knew what had happened to me?

I was reminded of why I was with Klaus right now. This kind of oppression had to stop—kids shouldn't be killed if they didn't have power, humans shouldn't be oppressed for not having power.

"Okay," I shivered and picked up my dropped pack, turning back to Klaus. He was wincing slightly, like he was already regretting what he'd done. "I brought the stuff for that charm you wanted me to make,"

"Good," Klaus was visibly relieved. He took my elbow to steer me out of the house, out the door into the snow. "I got a new place. We'll have to drive there—it's in a small town just a half hour from here."

"That's too far," I hurried to catch up with him, rewrapping my scarf around my neck. "How am I supposed to make it from home? It'd take me half the day."

"You won't have to," Klaus said with a wolfish smile at me, "because the next part of the plan is me joining you at your home."

* * *

"_Don't trust him."_

_The words seemed to come from all around me. I whirled around, realizing I was in the bomb shelter. Dust spun around me, the room smelled like stale bread and sweat, and I thought I could hear my heart echoing around me in the emptiness. _

"_Who?" I called out, shivering as my voice shouted back at me._

"_Klaus." _

_She was close; when I turned, she was standing in the cage the money keeper usually sat in, protected from all the big fighters when they demanded more. I wondered what kind of threat she thought I was. _

"_Why not?" I asked, thinking of Klaus, thinking of how I trusted him. I'm not sure when I decided I trusted him; I guess it just happened—even now, though he almost killed me, I always knew he'd kind of make sure I was taken care of._

_The girl looked no older than sixteen, but she had a mature expression, like she'd seen too much. Green eyes and warm brown skin. I'd seen girls looking like her before; witches, the more elite. _

"_He's not who you think he is." _

"_I know exactly what he is." I crossed my arms as I faced her. "And I'm a witch. I'm perfectly capable to taking care of myself."_

"_You know only what he's told you," there was a challenge on her face and she ignored the last part of what I said. "And you idolize him so much that you're blinded to the truth."_

"_Who the hell are you?" I demanded, uncrossing my arms and clenching my fists. She tilted her nose up, squinting._

"_My name is Bonnie Bennet. I know you're Corina Immitius—"_

"_Corina is dead," I interrupted. She blinked like I slapped her. "You should know that. As a Bennet witch, you should know that this town lost all hope when Corina died,"_

"_You don't have to lie to me," Bonnie took a step towards me, like she was going to comfort me or something. I took a step back automatically, although I didn't have to; a steel cage was between us. "Look, I'm a Bennet witch, but I'm not living in this place. I don't even have magic anymore." _

_I took a step back in surprise. I'd heard of witches losing their magic—but they were almost always killed by the Order. If they lost their magic, it was because they were evil—as in, trying to end the world type of evil._

"_Klaus took everything from me," Bonnie said through gritted teeth, but the calm expression stayed on her face. I narrowed my eyes._

"_He does that to people who try to end him—or his family." I snapped. Bonnie's eyes widened, an incredulous look coming over her face._

"_You really don't know anything about him, do you?" She sounded like she was talking to herself. I glared at her._

"_I know enough—"_

"_No, you don't," She practically breathed, her eyes wide. "He told you his father had daggered his family and killed his mother, but it was Klaus. He broke the curse so he could build Hybrid army to protect and serve him, not to protect his family. And he didn't just sacrifice one werewolf for breaking the Hybrid curse—he killed dozens of people— people I knew"_

"_Stop!" I shouted. "He would never hurt his family—"_

"_Oh my God," Bonnie's teeth glinted as she grimaced. "Corina—"_

"_Don't call me that!" I screamed. _

"_I…"_

_I turned and ran up the stairs—but the dream world disintegrated around me, turning to blackness._

* * *

"Rise and shine,"

I screamed and fell hard off the bed, skittering back into the dresser. It almost toppled over me, but Klaus reached out and stopped it first.

He raised his brow at me, smiling a little. His necklace fell out of his shirt, winking down at me, reminding me why he was here in my home.

Awkwardly, I stood around him, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"Isabella?" Aura stood in the doorway, eyes narrowed and confused. Klaus's expression got more surprised as he saw her, and he whirled to face me, accusation in his eyes and calculation happening in his head.

"Morning, Aura, this is Nik."

"Hello, Nik," Aura's eyes glazed over as she looked at him and she smiled in acceptance. Klaus smiled, satisfied as he touched the charm on the necklace I'd spelled last night. Judging by Aura's reaction, it was working. I'd spelled it to divert any suspicion away from Klaus and to have him automatically accepted by all humans—as a fellow human.

Aura turned away to go back to her little bedroom the approximate size of a closet.

"Looks like it's working," Klaus grinned at me.

"Don't you trust my magic?" I asked, frowning like I was offended. He rolled his eyes as he followed me out to our little lounge. "What's next?" I asked.

Last night, after we got back, I'd practically passed out on my bed, exhausted from the magic, and Klaus's driving always drained me. I'd left Klaus on the couch, which was foolish because I wasn't even sure if the charm would work back then.

"I need another charm—like this, but stronger."

"Why? That took me two hours," I frowned, crossing my arms.

"I need to get into the Order's Vault—they have something of mine they've been using to track my family. I need it back before they find them."

"Your family can't take care of themselves?"

"Your witches want to use them to bait me in—I can't live worrying about what they're next move is going to be,"

Klaus hadn't told me much about his family—just that he'd had many siblings but now, not so much, because of his non-biological father's murderous intent and determination to ruin Klaus for not being his biological son.

I remembered the dream I had about that Bennet witch and shivered. I hadn't been called by my real name since I actually was Corina. There was also no other story for what happened with Klaus and his family—the one he'd told me was the truth. Why would he go to such lengths to protect his family if he didn't care for them?

"Fine. But I'll need to go to the fights again," I ran a hand through my hair, wincing at the knots. Klaus's expression drained away.

"Why?" He gritted out. I ignored his intimidating look.

"How do you think I come about those charms? You can't buy them at the market, and humans are only allowed at the market on Sundays anyhow."

"Fine." Klaus snapped, crossing his arms. "I'll go with you to these fights. Surely you don't have anything to hide?"

"Nope," I shrugged and turned away, gritting my teeth. I hadn't anticipated his plan to end the witches reign moving so quickly.

He'd explained it to me before. They wanted to end him and his family, thus ending all vampires. He wanted to break them apart, scatter them so that their power wasn't as strong, so that they would be more focused on each other and their selfishness than ridding the world of vampires. The only reason I'd agreed to help all those years ago was because he'd said that he would let the humans go free too—perhaps start a new town for them right here, where they could live freely without oppression or working as slaves.

I'd agreed because he told me I was the only one who could break apart the witches—I was the last Immitius child who held the power of a witch, and a werewolf.

Because my mother wasn't faithful to my father, just like all those people had suspected. She'd had me with a werewolf—and unknowingly, that made me more powerful than her and all the other representatives of the witch lines.

I'd agreed to help Klaus because he said he'd get me out of this place so I could see the world. I'd never anticipated taking over the town within the next week.

Klaus's expression said it all as I looked back at him. Everything was about to change here.

* * *

**Please Review! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

"I plan on a revolution by the next full moon," Klaus said to me as we walked to the fights the following Sunday.

I was shivering in my coat, hands shoved in my pockets, but he strode through the streets unaffected by the chilled air, and no one paid him any attention even though he looked like he was coming from an elite witch line, more than a human.

My charm was still working. He even managed to smile at some of the human girls without any attention being drawn to him strangely.

I rolled my eyes at the thought of him ever being interested in a human girl anyhow.

"Do you think it's possible?"

I was brought back to the conversation and realized there were several things wrong with his first statement.

"The next full moon… when will that be?"

"Three weeks or so,"

"Not possible," I shook my head, looking straight ahead. "The people here are still blindly loyal to the witches; they're not about to overthrow them. Besides, we can't quite have a revolution yet without a team of people or leaders ready to take the witches places—these people don't know what they want themselves; they may want change, but when things go chaotic because everyone has a different idea of what they want, it'll be a bloodbath,"

"You be the leader," Klaus said, too loudly. I glared at him, even though we weren't getting any attention. I spoke barely moving my lips, knowing he could hear me. He spoke as if I was partially deaf and not quite intelligent.

"No one's going to believe that I'm…" Corina Immitius. I couldn't even say the name out loud. "Everyone believed she died in the fire. I'd only be asking to be arrested if I stepped out. Why should I risk it for people who would probably kill me?"

"I'll have it all sorted. I just want to know if you'll be ready,"

"I'll be ready," I nodded as we walked and turned a corner down a street. People were walking in all directions, yelling, shivering, planning what they wanted to do during the day.

The bomb shelter was through an alley, into a restaurant and down into a basement of sorts. I manipulated the shadows around us as usual when we walked down.

The crowd was thick with people, yelling and arguing, and money exchanged hands along with charms wrapped in paper and other valuables out in the open. Klaus pushed through the crowd, standing near the middle and dragging me along behind him.

This time, there were two girls fighting. The men all shouted and leered, throwing up their fists as they tackled each other.

I winced as one of the girls, probably early twenties, was slammed into the dusty ground, her face getting most of the impact. The younger girl's face above her was savage, grinning at the attention and still blood thirsty.

I wondered what kind of past she came from.

Klaus looked at me meaningfully. I ignored him, knowing what he wanted; he wanted me to fight this girl and only this girl, to avoid the big hulking hunters-in-training because I couldn't take a punch.

He didn't know how I fought, though. If I had to fight this girl, the whole thing would take less than a few seconds, and I'd have to really pull my punches and kicks to avoid hurting her.

In the end, I'd have to knock her out just so she wouldn't hurt herself.

Kieran decided at that moment to take notice of me, and across the crowd, he opened his mouth to yell out. I widened my eyes and shook my head at him, and he frowned, mouth closing. I didn't want Klaus to take any interest in him.

I waited a few rounds until she was versing a man, and I noticed that he wasn't like the other Hunter's in training; he was black haired, tall, tanned and seemed lean, not muscular. The crowd seemed to like that—they called his name and I saw more people betting in his favour. I edged away from Klaus towards the front of the crowd, watching carefully.

He struck like a viper—his punches were quick, hard, and he dodged everything before even trying to throw a punch. The girl was huffing, tiring herself out, but he looked like he'd only just begun. I knew what kind of fighting that was. He had the moves of an assassin—quick, quiet, confident. Like a snake.

I swallowed at the thought of fighting him. He would be a real opponent. A fight between us could last long—perhaps we'd have to tire out before anyone won. Anticipation welled in me. I hadn't had a real opponent in too long—not one that was human, grown in a town like this, not having any kind of physical advantage.

I could beat him, I realized.

"You want to fight Kaz?" Kieran stood next to me, watching in awe. I frowned as Kaz took a sharp punch to the gut, but then tripped the girl and trapped her to the floor with his arm against her neck.

"His name is Kaz?"

"No one can remember it. Tell me now if you want to fight him,"

"Yes," I nodded as the girl thrashed against the floor wildly.

Someone called out, and Kaz released her. She spat at him, a furious, wild animal, and spun around into the crowd to the cage for her winnings.

He didn't look victorious. He just stared at the back of the girl, then turned and walked away himself.

The people were angry. _I _was angry; I joined in the shouting as he seemed to disappear. Kieran didn't care and shoved me into the ring, as he enjoyed so much to do. I shrugged out of my coat and faced the crowd, waiting for someone to notice who wanted to fight now.

They weren't surprised this time that there was a girl—probably because of the other two girls who'd fought for three rounds. They weren't welcoming either.

I sighed when a Hunter pushed into the crowd, a grin on his leering face.

More of the same opponents.

* * *

I didn't have to hear Klaus's words to know that he was furious.

I caught his eye as I dodged a kick. The boy in front of me was no older than seventeen, but he had the confidence of a man who had too much to drink. Perhaps he had.

He was sick of the fighting I was doing—but I wasn't done yet. I'd only fought seven people—there was still too much time left in the day to walk away.

I grinned as I punched him in the chest and he doubled over, winded, only to meet my knee to his face. I saw blood and he wheeled backwards, hand to his nose, and when I gave him a little push, he fell and didn't get back up.

The crowd roared, laughter rising up and I heard them chanting something. I didn't care what. I bounced on the balls of my feet, and wiped hair away from my brow.

They wanted me to choose. I scanned the crowd and met Klaus's eyes again, taken aback by the fire in them. He was crossing his arms and his fists were clenched plainly. I turned away—but before I could choose, someone stepped into the ring behind me.

I turned to face Kaz. He was strangely dressed, strangely looking, like he'd just come from some strange place. I'd never seen anyone with gold green eyes that seemed to reflect light. I wondered, in that moment, if he could practise magic. Was he elite, pretending to be among humans? He was handsome enough, and held himself the right way.

The bell rung. I didn't wait, but I didn't throw the first punch either. I bent and kicked his legs out from under him, and he hit the ground hard—and sprung back up again. His punch caught me in the temple, and I blinked away stars, dodging his next blows sloppily before getting hold of myself.

Our movements were fast—the crowd around us seemed to vanish, their voices quietened and their necks craned to watch us. I'd never felt so slow—but I knew I wasn't. It was just the effect of having someone fight as fast as me.

"So this was your plan?" I huffed as I aimed a punch to his face. He dodged it smoothly. "Get me worn out from the Hunters and then fight me while I'm tired?"

"I feel that there are several things wrong—" this time I managed to punch him hard in the jaw. He spun but caught himself and continued fighting and talking like nothing happened, "with what you just said. You don't seem worn out,"

"I'm just getting started," I grunted as I caught a glancing blow of his kick to my chest. "Is your name really Kaz?"

"Does it matter?" He struck again. "Would you tell me your true name?"

"Only if you win," I kicked his chest, hard. He looked stunned, like he wasn't expecting that answer or the blow, and he stumbled back a bit. I took the opening and punched him twice in the face, so fast his eyes rolled—but he was fast too. His arm shot out to punch me, again in the temple, and we were too busy fighting to talk again.

We fought long—past ten minutes, maybe, or even longer, before I managed to lunge at him hard and punch his eye. This time he fell back, blinking like he was unable to believe what happened, and the crowd screamed and screeched, stomping their feet in approval.

But he was up again. It was me who was unable to believe what happened this time—I'd never seen someone get up from such a hard blow that fast.

When his kick struck my chest hard, I felt like my heart jumped to my throat. I tasted blood and I wasn't sure where it came from. He punched me hard again in the temple, and I felt warmth seep down my face. I was on my hands and knees, rage filling my head. It was too late when I got up.

He was already titled the winner.

* * *

_"Hurry up!"_

The man in the cage shoved money and a paper bag at me, scowling. I snatched it from his hand and sneered before Klaus seized my arm and began dragging me up the steps. I shoved him off, holding the cloth to my temple lightly.

I caught sight of Kaz before we jogged up the steps and was glad to see that he seemed to be in worse shape; his eye was swelling shut and his mouth was bleeding, cut sharply. He stared hard with one green gold eye, like he was trying to communicate with me.

I looked away as Klaus and I went up the steps.

The sun was starting to set and Klaus kept reaching back to brush my coat, or touch at my arm, to make sure I hadn't run off. He was avoiding looking at me, and when I tried to walk in front of him, something like a growl escaped his throat and he shoved me back. I decided that he wasn't getting any dinner tonight.

When we reached my home, Aura was out, thankfully, because he shoved me hard and slammed the door behind himself. I caught myself from stumbling away at the fury in his eyes.

"What is wrong with you?" He demanded. "I said I needed an amulet—not six of them, and not two hundred dollars cash. Are you incapable of hearing what I tell you? Are you that selective with the information that seeps into your mind?"

He slammed the coffee table into the wall, and the glass on top shattered.

"Look at yourself. You're exhausted, cut and bleeding, covered in bruises. You want to overthrow the witches in this state?"

"Klaus!" I snapped through gritted teeth. Anyone could be hearing right now.

"You want to risk the safety of these people in this city, my family's safety—your own safety, by fighting a group of common brawlers?"

I only glared at him now.

"I can control myself," I said through gritted teeth.

"It's not your control! It's _his _control!" Klaus stopped his pacing and stood right up to me, "All they want is a fight. They're all blood thirsty—"

"Big words coming from a vampire!"

"I'm actually a Hybrid!" He leaned forward as he yelled, glaring and clenching his fists at his sides.

"Well, so am I! You don't see my shoving my title in other people's faces!" I shouted back.

"That might be because you don't _have _a title, and you never will if you try to piss off every hunter in the city!"

I didn't know what to say to that—I stared for a moment, and then turned away, trying to shield my stubbornness from his reasonable argument. When moments of silence passed, the only sound was the crowds outside streaming to different destinations, I spoke.

"I've lived my whole life without the guidance of a thousand year old vampire," I looked up to his eyes. He stared levelly back, "I don't need your rules and commands now."

"You've lived your whole life controlled and commanded by the witches," Klaus said. "I don't want you to get caught in that world again."

"I _live _in this world." I snapped and crossed my arms. "They control what I eat, what I do, what I study, where I work, when I shower. There's no escaping their control."

"They don't control what _you _think." Klaus said quietly. "Everyone else is brainwashed, but you—you saw the truth that first night we met. That's why you're valuable—you're capable of changing everyone's minds."

"Why?" I demanded, unable to see this reasoning. "Because I changed my mind?"

"Exactly," his lips twitched. "You're their hope."

* * *

I didn't like how that sounded.

It put too much responsibility on my shoulders. I didn't want responsibility—I was fine where I was.

After I came back from the showers and put on my posh human clothes again, Klaus slapped the money I earned in my hand and said roughly, "Don't fight for money next time. Tell me if you need anything."

I had turned away, flushing, thinking about how he must think of me as fighting only for money because I was greedy—but he didn't understand the need for money. He probably had ten castles and a more than a few mansions scattered around the world. I wondered if he'd ever gone hungry before. I mean, everyone has their hardships, but somehow I felt like Klaus's were more about people trying to end him and his family.

I'd take hunger over that any day, now that I thought about it.

I didn't take my time in the markets this time—the sun was going down and I had left Klaus at home. I didn't want to think about what kind of experiments he'd be trying out with the amulets. But before I could even make it to my street I was dragged into an alley.

"Skand—"

My groan of impatience was cut off as I saw Kaz's face. For a moment, my darkness swelled, about to cloud the alley so I could get away, but somewhere I knew that would be more than risky.

Instead, I stayed silent as I stared at him, waiting for him to speak.

"I wanted to apologize," he said the words roughly and I detected a slight accent I hadn't noticed during the fights. I frowned as I tried to place it, but I didn't have much to go on; just Klaus's British accent and a few sharp European accents I'd heard from travelling witches when they came.

"I didn't expect to lose," I said, looking up, "but I didn't expect to be unharmed. Don't apologize."

I turned to walk away, thinking of Klaus again. He walked alongside me. I turned to face him, clenching my fists.

"What do you want?"

"You promised you'd tell me your true name." He crossed his arms expectantly, staring levelly. He was taller than me, and I suspected he'd be a little taller than Klaus too if not his exact height.

"I lied."

"You lie about a lot of things?"

"Only to people I don't trust. Now leave me alone, Kaz, because you're only wasting my time and your own time."

This time when I walked away, only silence followed.

* * *

"We're going out tonight," Klaus announced when I came in carrying the paper bag. I frowned as I closed the door behind me.

"I can't. I have classes tomorrow and I can't be late again."

"Don't worry—we'll be early. Just get changed,"

"All right, fine," I snapped at his impatience and brushed past him to my room. He stared off with crossed arms, looking disturbed.

I changed back into my usual clothes and met him outside, leaving the paper bag of magic stuff in the lounge. Hopefully if Aura found it I could pass them off as medicinal herbs—but the more I thought about it, the more stupid it was to leave them there, but Klaus was walking fast and pushing me lightly to go faster.

The dark roads were dead silent, with only shadows of people hurrying past trying to make it to their destination undetected. We were among them—but I kept my hold on the darkness enough to manipulate the shadows when we got close to others.

Klaus eventually led us to the tunnels by the Library, ones I hadn't used in months because I'd realized they didn't lead anywhere. I asked him how he knew about them.

"I found a map and a few underground systems of the town," he explained subtly. I didn't question further.

The tunnels were damp and murky, and more frigid than the air above. Several times a rat scuttled past and I had to stifle my squeaks, especially when Klaus turned around and snapped; "You're a witch, you could light it on fire if you wanted."

That made me feel kind of sick, so I settled for staring straight ahead and ignoring him.

Eventually, we came upon two tunnels. Klaus took the left. Then the left again at the next pair of tunnels. Then the right. And then there was a huge mountain of rocks that blocked the next tunnel. I huffed, annoyed with where my night was going, but Klaus simply circled around, heaved huge boulders aside, and showed me a staircase that led down.

"There better not be an avalanche," I whispered as we walked down, thinking of those rocks blocking our way out.

"There's more than just one entrance," he whispered back.

I would have retorted, but there was the light and warmth of fire below. And when Klaus pushed through the narrow opening and pulled me forward, I realized what he'd done.

I was standing on a stage, facing what seemed like hundreds of waiting people.

And one person I recognized. Kaz stared with a slight knowing grin, and suddenly I knew that he never needed to ask for my true name.

Him and every single person in this room knew it already.

* * *

**Hey guys PLEASE REVIEW! **


	5. Chapter 5

"What is this?" I hissed at Klaus. I clenched my fists to hide how much I was trembling. I felt exposed. So completely exposed.

Years of hiding who I was. Years of hiding behind a face that I created for survival. It was more than betrayal I felt.

"It's alright," Klaus reached out to bring me closer, but I took a step back and shook my head.

"I can't believe you did this!"

"Isabella—"

"No. Don't."

His eyes were wide, like he couldn't believe things weren't going his way. The people were standing, whispers rising up from the crowd, and over and over, I heard my name, my real name.

The room spun and I could feel myself swaying back. I reached back to grasp the cold stone.

"It's alright," Klaus said gently again. "They're not going to say anything—"

I turned and ran back through the tunnels.

They way back was shorter than the way in. In my haste, I bumped into what seemed like every wall, blinking to clear my vision. Sparks were erupting from my fingers and I tried desperately to control my emotions. He'd made it seem like it was only us. I'd thought he'd let me do this on my terms—but I was practically just another weapon in his arsenal. Another object for him to spin to his advantage. He'd already caused an uprising.

I pulled my key out from my pocket and pushed the door open, shaking. The house was cold, empty. I turned on the light.

Fiora stared back at me.

* * *

The first thing I almost managed to do was throw darkness at her, and a spark danced around my fingers, ready for me to use fire next.

But I realized that she looked at me with no recognition. She was holding the paper bag I'd bought from the market, and the charm I'd won.

When I'd seen her at the market, I thought we looked almost exactly alike. Now I realized we were so different, the closest we'd be mistaken for was cousins.

She was tanned, I was pale. She had black hair, and I had brown. Her eyes were blue and slanted, but mind were wide and light green. None of our facial features were remotely alike.

"Do you know that it's illegal for humans to be in possession of grimoires and magical herbs?" She narrowed her eyes at me, showing a severe expression.

My heart was stuttering too much for me to force out an answer or a reply. Or something. I felt like I was getting slapped, again and again tonight. Faced with things I'd never thought possible.

"I sensed the magic streets away," Fiora went on, pacing the lounge. She ran a hand over the broken coffee table. "I don't really know what kind of use you have for them. Either you have a witch friend…" she suddenly started towards me, and then she ripped off the charm I'd been wearing around my neck. "You must have a witch friend," she concluded, shrugging. She tilted her head. "What is your name?"

"Isabella," I said through gritted teeth. Her brows rose in slight surprise.

"You're lying," She crossed her arms. "Nevertheless. We'll find out soon."

Behind me, the door opened. I shivered at the blast of cold air, but didn't turn around. When a strong smelling cloth was covered over my mouth and nose, it was only instinct to take a gasping breath to scream, but it was too late. I was already slipping away.

* * *

I woke in a cell. For a few minutes I stayed still on the thin mattress I was put on, assessing what had happened. There was the sound of a steady dripping, which I suspected was from a tap of sorts. The wind and rain blew mercilessly outside, and there was a draft of cold air seeping through. There was a steady pacing which I suspected was from guards somewhere along the rows of cells.

When I opened my eyes, I saw how dark it was. There was no one else in the cells.

I moved and the pacing stopped as the springs creaked. I stayed still as the guard began walking again, towards me.

He was a Hunter—one I'd fought today. I turned my head, shaking my hair out between us so he might not recognize me. I could see bruises around his eye from where I'd kicked him. He'd been knocked out for a solid minute, and then he couldn't remember what had happened.

"Stand," he commanded. I did, lifting my face a little. "The Immitius want to see you. They're in charge of the patrols tonight,"

"I know." I walked out of the cell, shivering.

I couldn't forget that somewhere in this stupid town, hundreds of people now had a face to put to the name Corina.

Because of Klaus.

"Hurry up," the Hunter seemed bored, and he suddenly slapped a pair of cuffs around my hands and pushed me in front of him.

We didn't even leave the building. We went through the long corridor and when we turned, the air was cleaner, the floors were marble and the walls were bright.

He pushed past me to unlock a door. When he dragged me in, I avoided looking at my mother's face.

She was seated at the long table, right at the end, with the paper bag's contents spread out in front of her and two grimoire pages I'd left under my bed weeks ago.

When I met her eyes, she smiled grimly.

"Well, we know who's been stealing grimoires."

* * *

"Sit down, Isabella," her voice was pleasant. I swallowed roughly as I sat across from her. The Hunter left. I heard his footsteps echo away. The room was huge, but empty, with only the long oak table and plush chairs we were seated at.

"My daughter tells me that you're human. You take care of a child named Aura. You are seventeen years old, and you work with Bertha at the Library when you're not studying," she hummed and sat back reaching to shift the items on the table. "I can't see why you'd need witchcraft material."

I stayed silent as I stared at her. Fiora looked closer to her. My mother had dark eyes and shining bronze hair, tanned skin, and a severe expression when she tightened her lips and narrowed her wide eyes. I suddenly ached to see what Savion looked like.

"Do you have any werewolf blood in you?" she asked.

I swallowed again before answering. "I wouldn't know. I don't have parents."

"Everyone has parents."

"My parents were witches and I was born a human. They left me when I was eight,"

"Oh?" Her brows rose like she was challenging me. I tilted my face up at her, setting my chin defiantly. Her eyes glimmered like she recognized something. "You remind me of my daughter." My defiance scattered. My eyes shifted and I clenched my fists.

"The punishment for stealing from the witches is death," my mother said, sighing like she was tired of interrogating me. "But it seems so that these two pages were from a grimoire at the Library, and you bought the material from the market today, and you won the charms at the brawls. I'm not here to press charges on a crime you didn't commit."

A sigh almost escaped me. She couldn't keep me here—I'd done nothing wrong.

But she was still staring.

She slapped my charmed necklace on the table. The baroque pendent glimmered blue and rocked on the table.

"This is a charmed necklace."

"Lots of people have charmed necklaces." I said, hoping I didn't sound shaky. "They don't usually do anything—"

"But this one does," she interrupted. She reached out to touch the crystal so lightly. "I haven't sensed magic this strong ever. We need to find the witch that did this,"

"I won that charm at the brawls—"

"The magic is strong; the spell was recently done. When I conducted a tracking spell for the charm to lead me to who it belonged to, it led me to you. You have owned it long enough for it to be your own. Which means that the charm was spelled while you owned it, so you know who spelled it."

"Why is it so important?" I demanded.

"That is none of your business," she snapped. Involuntarily, I recoiled, moving back in my seat.

"You've made it my business when your daughter came into my home," the words came with more conviction than I felt. I knew it was the wrong thing to say when a strange, calm expression crossed her features but an angry fire entered her eyes.

"You are a human. Everything you do in this town is chosen by witches. We have all the control over you."

I remembered what Klaus said, about how I'd chosen to think for myself. All I could think about was what she would do to me if I provoked her further. "I will lock you in a prison cell for the rest of your life and hurt everyone you love, or you can help me and I'll let you go," she paused. "So, will you help, or not?"

I thought about it. The only people she could remotely hurt were Ana, and Aura. Ana had a witch sister which granted her family protection for letting the witches raise her. They couldn't hurt Ana—and Aura, she was a twelve year old girl. I had to trust that Klaus would get her out of the town before anyone tracked her down. She was human—no one here would miss her.

"I won't help you."

The reaction was instant. Two guards came into the room while my mother sat back and let them drag me. She didn't say a word as they pulled me out faster than the time it took for me to form the thoughts of what they were doing.

"Wait—wait!" I pushed against the hulking men, but they jerked my arms relentlessly and harshly pulled me away. They shut the door behind us and continued. "Wait!"

"Shut up."

They moved fast. I went to a different room this time—white, bare, nothing. It was lit, but I didn't know where the light was coming from. I yelped when they shoved me in and when they shut the door, I noticed there was no door handle. Only a white, smooth metal surface.

The only other object in the room was a tiny black cylinder in the corner of the ceiling, a red dot in the corner and a shiny surface. After a moment, I realized it was a camera.

That's when the hallucinations started.

* * *

I knew it was a hallucination because there was no way the wolf had somehow been put in the room as well without me realizing it before.

But when he growled and snapped his canines, I screamed and stumbled back before he even lunged.

When he _did _lunge, darkness erupted from my hands and with a jolt, I remembered the camera and stopped so fast I felt like I'd just blinked.

I felt the pain—his teeth ripping into my shoulder. I struggled to keep my power down, but I couldn't stop the screaming. The only thing that stopped me from using my power was the knowledge that it wouldn't do anything; the wolf was an illusion, all set up in my mind. The witches were in my head.

Abruptly, the wolf disappeared.

I jolted up, whirling around, waiting for it to attack again. The pain was gone—but my shoulder still tingled, still feeling phantom pain.

I decided the next thing I heard was worse than the wolf.

The first thing was screams—and the second, bombs.

The door flew open and I ducked, shielding my face to avoid the blow. I felt my arm give into the force, and heard the snap before I felt it. The screams that came next were from me—I didn't realize I could make a sound so loud.

Fire seemed to erupt into the hall outside, lighting everything with a strange orange red. People screamed and ran past, ignoring me.

I didn't think I'd be able to last in a building that was about to explode.

I struggled to get up, cradling my hurt arm against my chest.

And then I ran.

* * *

It was the longest night of my life. My vision was spinning, and as I pushed past swirling masses of people I'd never seen before, crying out every time I bumped my arm, I realized something else.

The air was poisoned.

"The bombs!" someone was shrieking, and I couldn't see who. "They're bombing us!"

I don't know what kind of poison it was, but I caught a glancing whiff of something herbal. A thousand possible names came to my mind, all of them bad. Herbal poisons could paralyse you for hours, and one time I'd gone unconscious for two days just by touching a leaf of an old plant Ana found beneath her house.

Witches were using their useless power, blowing winds that only succeeded in blowing trees wildly and doors flying off some homes. Sputtering fires also caught on, as I stood in the huge doorway of the building I had been put in. I realized it was the House of the Order, not the usual dungeon; that would explain why there were so many witches about and what seemed like no humans.

The poisoned air was starting to get to me.

Screams erupted as another bomb shook the building and I watched as a balcony on the west side overlooking the forest crashed down, crushing some poor person beneath. Harrowing screams made me turn, pushing through swarms of people.

No one paid me much attention—until someone fell right into me.

The pain in my arm was dizzying and disorienting as I tried to catch the child with one arm. When he turned to face me, I realized he couldn't have been more than twelve—and his throat was ripped apart, spilling lifeblood all over me, my arms, my face. Someone jolted into me from behind, and I slipped, stumbling to catch him a little.

But he was dying. His eyes slipped closed without a flicker of recognition in them, only confusion and fear as he realized what was happening—what had _happened._

Then he was on the ground, people pushing and trampling over him. I did something I was more ashamed of than I'd ever done in my life. I ran, leaving the child on the floor.

* * *

It wasn't until I saw the half demolished restaurant that I knew I was close to my home. It was around the third street down. Humans were coming out of their homes, observing the attack on the main city, where all the witches lived. I could still hear their screams, and I kept seeing the boys eyes wide with terror every time I looked in the darkness.

The poison was more than just in my system now. It clung to my clothes, hair, and I was breathing it in every second until shadows were dancing in my vision and I realized just how close to unconsciousness I was. My fingers were numbing, and my head was starting to feel heavy. I contemplated getting into an alley and taking cover.

People gasped as I tore down the street, stumbling, blinking too much, blood covering the front of my coat and neck and hands. My arms were getting limp, and my feet were missing every few steps, until I almost sprawled across the floor. I counted the doors I passed, and fumbled for my key when I got to my home.

Blackness was crowding my vision. I was starting to slide down the door and I had another stupid thought; I was getting blood all over the door.

The door swung open and there was a gasp before I was dragged in.

"Isabella?"

I screamed as my arm was dragged up and Klaus immediately let me go, only to practically carry me up, kicking the door closed behind him.

"Where is it?" he demanded as he set me on the couch. He was shouting, I realized, eyes wide with fury. "Where are you hurt?"

"It's not— it's poison,"

He was ignoring my words. His hands went to frantically unbutton my coat before he tore it open, searching for the wounds. He exhaled in relief when he finally noticed there was no lifeblood spilling out of me. "I'm going to give you my blood,"

"No!" my eyes flew open and I reached up to bat his hand away.

"Your arm is broken."

"Klaus…" it was too late. My eyes slipped closed and my hold on reality vanished.

* * *

"No—Klaus—no!"

She was reaching up still, shaking her head and cradling her arm when she suddenly slumped and her eyes closed. Klaus gave a sigh of anger, or annoyance. Or fear.

His teeth tore into his arm and he forced the blood to her mouth. A moan escaped her, and she shook her head though her eyes remained closed. He realized how exhausted she looked. Her full lips were colourless, her eyes had purple smudges beneath them and her dark hair was stark against her pale skin.

Then her green eyes flew open and she turned, vomiting blood all over the carpet. She would have fallen if Klaus hadn't pushed her back on the sofa, almost roughly in his panic. She was rejecting the blood. He knew witches could take blood in their system. Why was she rejecting it?

He tried again, but she didn't even swallow it. Blood trickled down the side of her lips, making her look like a corpse. The sight scared him so much; he smeared it away with his sleeve, and tried to calm his frantically beating heart.

He was going to have to heal her the human way.

* * *

**Please review ! :) weird chapter guys... this last part is in Klaus's point of view, I might make the next chapter his as well, what do you think?**


End file.
